Appeal trial for ex-Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang opens

Hanoi (VNA) – The People’s Court of Hanoi on December 27 opened an appeal trial for former Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and several other defendants in a case which occurred in the ministry, Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage JSC (Sabeco) and Ho Chi Minh City, causing a loss of over 2.7 trillion VND (118.2 million USD) for the State.

Hoang and three other defendants appealed against the first-instance sentences, asking for reduced punishiment. 

Earlier, at the instance trial, the court sentenced Hoang to 11 years’ imprisonment for “violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness”.

Also on the same charge, Phan Chi Dung, former Director of the Light Industry Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), got nine years in jail under Article 219 of the 2015 Penal Code’s Clause 3.

In line with Article 229 of the 2015 Penal Code’s Clause, eight other accomplices of Hoang, who are former Ho Chi Minh City officials, were sentenced to between 30 months and 7 years in prison for “violating regulations on land management.”. Three of them have already been convicted in other cases for “violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness”, thus their aggregate jail terms adding to from six to 14 years.

Appealing after the first instance hearing, Hoang and three other defendants requested the appeal court to consider mitigating their sentences.

According to the indictment from the Supreme People’s Procuracy, the Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage JSC (Sabeco), which is under the MoIT’s management, was given more than 6,000 sq.m of land at the No. 2-4-6 on Hai Ba Trung street in downtown HCM City for production and business purposes.

However, Hoang, Dung, and former Deputy Minister of the MoIT Ho Thi Kim Thoa, who has fled, directed subordinates at the ministry and Sabeco to carry out procedures for using land use rights and Sabeco's money as capital contributions to set up Sabeco Pearl, a joint venture between the firm and a number of private enterprises, to implement a project building a hotel, a trade and convention centre, and office space for lease on the land.

After Sabeco completed legal procedures for the joint venture’s investment and proposed the HCM City People’s Committee approve the addition of officetel and housing functions to this project, the MoIT ordered the company to divest its entire stake in this project.

This was illegal and resulted in the loss of over 2.7 trillion VND to the State.

However, the appeal trial was later cancelled as several defendants and parties with related obligations and interests were absent. Hoang was receiving treatment at hospital and not able to attend the trial. Another defendant was absent because he was being in medical quarantine./.